An aircraft, believed to be a Boeing 747, belonging to Saudi Air, skidded from the runway while taxiing to the departure gate at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on Thursday night, reported the official Iranian news agency (IRNA), citing a report on Saturday.

The Bernama news agency quoted an official of the airport operations center as saying that a mechanical failure developed by the aircraft had been attended to and the plane was taxiing to the departure gate when it skidded into a drain near the runway.

He said the incident happened at about 10 p.m. and there were six people onboard -- four Saudi Air crew and two staff of the ground handling company, Kuala Lumpur Airport Services (KLAS).